Jags open as 1.5-point favorites in Week 1 game vs. Texans

The Jacksonville Jaguars weren’t favorites often last season, but will open the 2021 regular season as favorites against the Houston Texans. This comes after all of the league’s Week 1 games were revealed Wednesday morning.

At the moment, BetMGM has the Cardiac Cats down as 1.5-point favorites on the road against their divisional rivals, who the Jags haven’t defeated since Dec. 7 of 2017. However, for the time being, first-round pick Trevor Lawrence, who has never lost a regular season game in high school or college, will start his NFL career on a team that’s favored unless changes are made.

Not only will the game mark Lawrence’s first regular season game, but it will also be the first for Urban Meyer as he’s never been an NFL head coach. However, under previous head coach Doug Marrone, the Jags were 3-1 in their season openers.

In their first game, Meyer and Lawrence will be up against a team many feel could have a worst 2021 record than the Jags. Starting for the Texans could be either Tyrod Taylor or Davis Mills, who won’t have a lot of notable names to help them under the new regime of coach David Culley.

Like Meyer, Culley will be the head coach of an NFL team for the first time in his career. However, he has been an NFL assistant since 1994.

BetMGM also has the over/under set at 46 points for Week 1’s game. As for the money line, the Jags have a -125 figure, which means a $100 bet on them would net a bettor $125.

Here's their full schedule.

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